10 March 10, at approx. 7:28 am, a citizen called the Sonora Police Department and reported that two subjects were attempting to break into a newspaper stand on the 700 block of Mono way, with what looked like some type of large cutter.

Officers responded to the scene and contacted the two subjects. One was identified as Sean McIntyre 48, who is a transient and on probation for burglary. The other subject was identified as Robert Epperly 25, who is also a transient.

Shortly after an officer contacted the two subjects, McIntyre took off running. However, he was captured a short time later during a foot chase by another officer. In their possession was a large pair of cable crimpers. These are not bolt cutters and don’t cut. They are used for crimping large pieces of cable. The crimpers were new and still had the security tag on them and the instruction manual was also still attached to them.

During the investigation, it was learned that the pair had entered Orchard Hardware and stole the crimpers. Believing they had stolen bolt cutters, they then went to a nearby newspaper stand and attempted to cut the lock off of the paper stands coin box using the crimpers, but were unsuccessful because crimpers don’t cut.

Both were arrested and transported to the Tuolumne County Jail and booked. The investigation into this matter is ongoing. The subjects had a large amount of other small tools in their possession, which were all new and still in their original packaging, but were not from Orchard Hardware.